Chapter 2 - The Side Character Who Is Only the Second, and the Mob Heroine Who Couldn’t Even Be Second
“Cute.”
That single word seemed to have sent her into a total panic.
"I-I'm not cute at all!"
She frantically flailed her hands from side to side, desperately denying it.
It was obvious she wasn't used to being complimented at all. It was also the kind of reaction typical of someone with low self-esteem.
Back in my previous life, I worked in sales, and I dealt with many kinds of people so I could tell. People who are that insecure just can't accept a compliment. It makes getting close to them a slow-going process, but... it's not impossible.
It just requires a bit of a brute-force approach.
“That’s not true. At least, I think you’re cute.”
The thing about people with no self-esteem is that, deep down, they crave validation more than anyone. In that case, you just have to overwhelm them with sheer volume. In other words, just shower them with more compliments than they can possibly deny.
“But… I’m so plain.”
“I think being simple is good, though.”
“My personality is gloomy.”
“That’s called 'modest,' and it's a great quality.”
“I don’t have any friends, and I just read books all the time.”
"What guy doesn't like a bookworm girl?"
"And my face isn't very attractive."
"That's completely subjective. Personally, I find you very attractive.”
"...How can you even say that? You can't even see my face behind all my bangs."
"That's exactly what makes you so attractive!"
Ah, crap. Up until now, I'd been calmly countering every one of her self-denials, but when she bad-mouthed the best part about herself, I got a little heated.
“Eep!”
I must’ve come on too strong. Mobuko-chan flinched, her small body trembling. She was like a frightened little animal. I did feel bad for scaring her… but honestly, I couldn’t hold myself back.
“Girls who hide their eyes with their bangs are the cutest in the world! The way your eyes just peek through every now and then... that's what makes it so good!"
"Th-That's not true! It's not cute at all... I just... I hide because I'm scared of people looking at me! That's all! I'm just a coward!"
Was she getting caught up in my passion? Little by little, Mobuko-chan's words were starting to get heated. The super-polite speech she'd been using was starting to crack, and her real emotions were seeping through.
Just one more push. Determined not to lose, I shot back.
"But the fact remains that you're cute. That's not something you get to decide... it’s my opinion, after all."
At the end of the day, there's a limit to how much she can deny. This is about my own opinions about her, after all. It's not something she can just argue with.
"...Y-You really think that?"
"Of course I do."
She still looked doubtful. But even for someone as insecure as her, there was one concrete fact she couldn't just ignore.
“You’re… really… not lying. Because... you even remembered my name."
That’s right. I knew her name.
Mogami Fuko, the girl so unremarkable that even our homeroom teacher often forgot who she was. And yet, I remembered her name more clearly than anyone else.
And that, it seemed, was the one simple fact that all her self-doubt just couldn't argue away.
"Yeah, I'm not lying... T-Today I just happened to be in the library, and I, uh, I saw you were here and... well, I just sorta stopped for a bit."
Of course, I couldn't exactly tell her that I'd come to the library specifically for her, and had been watching her from the shadows this whole time. What mattered was that I got the point across, that I held affection for her, and that's why I remembered her name.
And it seemed like she'd accepted that.
“‘Mogami-san,’ huh… hehe.”
Every time I called her name, she looked so happy, and her voice had this adorable little lilt to it. Yep, she was just as cute as I'd always thought. That hadn't changed one bit from when I'd read the manga.
But there was one thing I absolutely could not let myself forget. That I was, at the end of the day, nothing more than a side character.
“...You’re the second person who’s ever really noticed me.”
Her quiet little murmur made me let out a wry smile. Ah... yeah, that's right. I was only the second one.
"It's been a while... since I've talked to anyone other than Sanada-kun."
The first one was Sanada Saiga, the protagonist of this romantic comedy.
That's right. This isn't a story where I'm the protagonist. And she isn't even my heroine. I am, through and through, just a side character... and Mogami Fuko is just the… mob heroine. That's all there is to it.
